David Lennon
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist and author who has been a staff writer at Newsday since 1991.
TAMPA, Fla. — The lack of any criminal prosecution against Aroldis Chapman has been the Yankees’ lone defense since trading for the embattled relief pitcher last month. When Chapman took the unusual step Tuesday of proclaiming his innocence, however, Joe Girardi didn’t seem quite ready to declare a mistrial in the court of public opinion.
With commissioner Rob Manfred expected to give his disciplinary ruling any minute now on Chapman’s domestic abuse allegations, the Yankees have been relegated to the impossible situation of expressing their contempt for the crime — but not the target of those accusations, a player who happens to wear their pinstriped uniform.